10a jumping

Day 10 _Show Jumping starts!!

Aren’t the jumps great? The colors and atmosphere are totally terrific…packed stands, and the competition was super. Team USA in the lead with 3 of 4 clear in the qualifying 1st round. Finally something for the USA fans to cheer about. Beezie and Mclain were fantastic, and our “rookie” Olympian, Will Simpson put in a clear round. Laura almost made it 4 clear, but one down and one time fault gave her 5. Now, in the jumping, remember four jump, and three scores count….the right way. Maybe the FEI and IOC will rethink the 3 member team thing to make it a better competition for dressage. Things were calm for the dressage riders as they get ready for the GP Special, the first of the qualifiers for the individual medals , on Sat night.

The jumping tonight gave us a taste of what is going to develop over the next 4 days – splendid jumping and wonderful horses and riders. The best of the best are here ,,,,and it shows. Canada’s veteran Ian Millar, in his 8th Games (yes, *!!) almost went clear, and finished with 1 time fault. He will definitely be the mix as we progress thru… Brazil (2 clears and Rodrigo with only 1 time fault) and Canada (2 clears) are right behind us. Sunday night…the first of two rounds for the all coveted Team medals. Scores carry over throughout, so it’s important from here on, to not drop the rails….the course tonight was lovely and really set a marvelous tone for the athletes…not too tough but challenging and technical. It was beautifully presented with lots of decorations, flora and fauna, and Chinese themes thru out. Check out the pics…..

Now a couple of “other” fun Olympic experiences for me today…by, the way, thanks so much for all your support…I was tough on myself last night, and rightfully so, for making a big mistake. Your comments tho were spot on, and I feel a lot better , especially after doing , what I thought was, a good solid job tonight in my session of jumping . I fumbled the ball last night yes, but got back in the huddle and made the completion for the first down tonight. Thanks all…and if you haven’t read Sallyo’s comments (mother of course,) please do..Only Sally would say something like that…Love you MOM!!!!

Next: Today I was catching up on laundry, doing emails, contacting some suppliers, and doing some other work, when I turned on the TV and started to watch and listen to the women’s diving competition. It was very well covered (commentary in Chinese tho) and suddenly, up comes this Russian woman for her dive sequence. Her name is Svetlana Filipova- and I almost fell out of the chair laughing……she did a terrific dive, but look at the name folks…….and try to say her name…well, makes my job now a bit easier I’d say.

Next: After my session tonight in the show jumping, I went into the canteen for some dinner, and went in to sit down, and found about 50 or so Chinese workers watching a women’s volleyball match….turned out it was China vs. USA and it was tied going into the final match.. They had been playing forever and it was really close…..every time the Chinese women scored the whole place erupted with cheers…every time the USA spiked a point, it was only me!! I had a good laugh being in that position…good cheer all around. USA won in the third , and the workers all dispersed back to their jobs…..Olympics are so world wide and full of national pride, aren’t they?

Well, I think that will do it for tonight..Tsing Tao medicine is so good and hydrating (PAT) and helps with the writing…..see you tomorrow night after the GP Special. Oh, the top 25 include, Courtney, Steffan, Ashley Holtzer, Anky, Kyra Kirkland, Andreas H. and of course, Isabell with Satchmo, to name a few. Should be a big shoot out……we look forward to the competition. End of day 10

Brian